About Rice

About Rice

You may have seen difference in rice cooked under almost the same conditions.
In particular, we often hear that rice is cooked imperfectly when rice changeover is made or a rice variety is changed after new one comes on the market.
The below gives a simple explanation about rice (new rice in particular) whose quality is one of the necessary conditions, as well as what is needed, for cooking good rice.

• 

  A rice grain is a rice seed and so breathes after being harvested. Therefore its inside changes while it looks similar. The nice taste is deteriorated over time.
  The change is brought by the hardened cell walls and loss of the enzyme activity.
  When cellulose and other components of the cell walls are bound and their tissues harden, the rice is not cooked fluffily because osmosis of water is hindered.
  In addition, when the enzyme activity of rice is lost, the starch and protein are not decomposed easily during immersion into water and being heated, which leads to failure of bringing out the nice tastes including sweetness and deliciousness.
  Moreover, rice comes to give off an undesirable odor, i.e., the odor of old rice, because the lipid contained in it is decomposed by the enzymes.
  Therefore newer rice that spends less time after being harvested is cooked better.

• The quality of rice and how to cook

  One of the matters to be kept in mind when cooking new rice is the difference in the quality of rice by production year.
  The quality of rice is significantly affected by the amount of insolation, rainfall, etc. of the year. Therefore, when rice changeover is carried out, it is necessary to pay attention to the difference in the quality of the rice from one harvested in previous years. If there are many rice grains that may affect the quality of cooked rice such as Shirata-mai (less translucent rice grains that are looked white) and Doware-mai (crushed rice grains), it is indispensable to adjust the conditions for cooking rice in order to cook good rice.
  Another matter to be kept in mind is the quantity of water.
  As new rice generally contains and absorbs more moisture, it is said that the quantity of water should be decreased by around 10% compared to the usual manner. Today, however, as technologies for rice milling, drying and storage have advanced, it is ratther necessary to adjust the quantity of water according to the condition of rice, not simply reducing it.

• How to cook good rice

  

  For cooking rice perfectly irrespective of new rice or old one, it is important to know the properties and conditions of the rice and adjust the method of washing rice, the quantity of water, the time for immersing into water, the heat level, etc. accordingly.
  In addition, if you use old rice and rice that has been left long after being milled, it may be needed to taking into consideration supplements to the lost components.
  In the sushi industry, it is said that "it takes three years and eight years to master cooking sushi rice and hand-forming sushi respectively". That is, it is necessary to master skills for cooking good rice.